Inbound vs Outbound Call Centres: Differences

Explore how is an inbound call center different from an outbound call center. Learn about the two types of call centers, their meaning, and their types, and boost your business growth.

August 13, 2023

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8 Minutes

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Tooba Khan

Tooba Khan

Inbound vs Outbound Call Centres: Differences

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Imagine your laptop stops working and you need technical assistance. You pick up your mobile phone and dial customer service to fix it. In the same way, most customers prefer to call a business to solve their queries. Telecalling services, both inbound and outbound, are a significant part of the BPO industry. If you’re thinking, “Inbound vs. outbound call centers, what’s the difference?” this blog post will answer that and more.

The BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry has many branches. One of its branches, customer service, is divided into two categories, namely, inbound and outbound calling. Businesses outsource their sales operations to these call centers according to their goals and requirements. In this post, we will cover the two types: inbound vs. outbound call centers, meaning their types and the difference between them.

Manage your call center by staffing and scheduling calls

Inbound Vs. Outbound Call

To make your business successful, you must keep your customers happy, retain them, and gain new customers. This means providing solutions to their queries, updating them with new information, offering discounts, etc. Inbound and outbound calling is the answer to check all these tasks off your list. Lets begin by understanding what each one does and dive into inbound vs. outbound calling.

Inbound Call centers vs Outbound call centers
Inbound Call centers vs Outbound call centers
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Types of Inbound and outbound calls

There are many different purposes for inbound and outbound calls. Based on these purposes and productivity required, they are further divided into several categories. Let’s explore some of them to better understand inbound vs. outbound call centers.

Types of Inbound Calls

When receiving inbound calls, customer service representatives handle many queries and provide customers with the necessary assistance. These include:

  • Customer service calls
  • Product information requests
  • Order placement and tracking
  • Returns and refunds
  • Complaints and feedback
  • Technical support
  • Billing and payment inquiries

Types of Outbound Calls

Outbound call centers make outgoing calls to customers for various reasons. Here are some types of outbound calls:

Difference Between Inbound And Outbound Call Centers?

To differentiate between the two types of call centers, you must first get a clear picture of inbound vs. outbound meaning. Inbound calls are calls made by customers for their queries or issues. Whereas outbound calls are the calls made by customer service agents to promote a product or service, follow up on previous interactions, etc. Let’s look at this table to establish the difference between the two call centers, i.e., inbound vs outbound call centers.

Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Call Centers By SquadStack
Image - Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Call Centers By SquadStack
Inbound Call Centers receive incoming calls from customers. Inbound Call Centers provide solutions to customer queries and problems, receive complaints or feedback, and offer assistance. Whereas Outbound Call Centers make outgoing calls to customers. Outbound Call Centers promote products or services to potential prospects, follow up, remind them of appointments or due payments, and conduct surveys.

Inbound vs Outbound: Roles & Responsibilities

Whether you’re a business owner, an enthusiastic job seeker looking for opportunities to become a telecaller, or just curious to know more about call center services, an inbound and outbound call center job description helped you gain a better understanding of inbound vs outbound call centers.

An inbound call center agent, such as a Customer Service Associate (CSR), a technical support specialist, or an order processing specialist, performs the following functions:

  • Handle incoming calls from customers politely and professionally.
  • Provide them with information, assistance, or support related to the products or services.
  • Provide step-by-step assistance and guide them through the troubleshooting process.
  • Escalate major issues to senior management or coordinate with the concerned department.
  • Be up-to-date with the product or service upgrades, company policies, offers or discounts, etc.
  • Works on pre-decided inbound call center scripts.

An outbound call center rep, like a sales or telemarketing agent, fulfills these responsibilities:

  • Make outbound calls to existing customers to promote products or services, conduct surveys, or follow up on previous communications.
  • Research and gather information on potential customers and call them to introduce the brand.
  • Remind customers of payments, schedule appointments, and close sales deals.
  • Maintain and update data on CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools.
  • Build positive relationships with customers.

Inbound and Outbound Call Center Services

These services are provided by inbound and outbound call centers, which help enterprises handle large volumes of incoming and outgoing calls, focus on their core competencies and keep the business running like clockwork. By outsourcing these secondary activities to SquadStack, companies like Upstox, Delhivery, Udaan, Moneyview, Choice, and many more have boosted their revenue, profitability, and growth.

SquadStack is one-stop solution for inbound and outbound calling. Access the best on-demand telecallers, the latest technology, CRM integration, quality assurance, and monitoring. Squadstack aims to provide you with a tailor-made solution for your needs and help you be at the top of your game. Book a demo with SquadStack!

Squadstack for Inbound and Outbound Services
Image: SquadStack for Inbound and Outbound Call Center Services

What are Hybrid Call Centers?

How about a mix of inbound and outbound calls, meaning a hybrid call center? This helps companies benefit from both types of services. A business can go for any of the call centers from hybrid, inbound, IVR and outbound call centers, depending on its needs, budget, workforce requirements, etc. Now that you understand inbound vs outbound call centers, the difference, meanings, and types, you can leverage them for the growth and success of your business.

Inbound vs Outbound call centre
FAQ's

What Is an inbound call center?

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Inbound call centers handle incoming customer calls and resolve their problems relating to products or services. They also provide technical help in troubleshooting, assist in updating personal or account information and take feedback or complaints from customers.

What Is an outbound call center?

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An outbound call center makes outgoing calls to customers to promote products and services, update them with changes, remind them of payments, etc. They also collect data on potential customers, reach out to them, and close deals.

What is the difference between outbound and inbound?

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The direction of the calls makes the difference between an inbound and outbound call center. Inbound calls are received by companies to offer support and assistance. Outbound calls are made to customers to sell products and services, collect payments or make sales calls to potential clients.

What is a hybrid call center?

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A call center that is a blend of both inbound and outbound call centers is called a hybrid call center. It handles incoming calls from customers and provides them with all the necessary information or assistance required. It also makes outgoing calls for sales, telemarketing, surveying, collecting payments, etc.

What is an inbound and outbound process in BPO?

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BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) includes two types of processes which are Inbound and Outbound. They are used by BPO vendors to handle customers on their client’s behalf. They use phone calls, emails, social media, and other channels to communicate with customers and provide them with support in different ways.

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